ur Commissioning Editor, Ola Törnkvist, delivered a talk on behalf of our chairman, Dr K K Phua (who was unable to attend due to a tight schedule) at the recent Second ICSU-UNESCO International Conference on Electronic Publishing in Science. The conference was held at the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation) headquarters in Paris from 20 to 23 February.
Excerpts from the speech highlighting two Asian countries:
“We can divide scientific research and scientific publishing in China into three phases:
Phase I (1911–1949)
During this period, China started to develop its own scientific research and education, especially in the fields of mathematics, physics and some branches of chemistry and biology. Scientific publishing was very much related to these areas. The publishing activities involved the basic reprinting of important scientific books from western publishers.
Although scientific publishing at that time was very limited and relatively primitive, it had a strong impact on the science education then... Actually, Nobel laureates C N Yang and T D Lee and others who were students at the time - learnt their physics in China before they went to the United States for higher degrees.
Phase II (1949–1966)
After the Communists took over power in 1949, the government placed great emphasis on both pure and applied sciences... China published a huge number of STM books translated from Russian... These publications were so cheap that even individual scientists, engineers and students could afford to buy them.
After 1949, many Chinese scientists and engineers returned to China from the west, for example outstanding scientists such as L K Hua (mathematician), Chao Tian-Qin (bioengineer), Qian Xue-Seng (rocket expert) and many others. This group of western-trained scientists and engineers exerted a very strong influence, especially in training of the next generation of Chinese scientists and engineers.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the progress of scientific research in China was very significant... Hence, with the advancements in R&D, developments in the publishing industry became vibrant, with a lot of support from the government, mostly for publications in the Chinese language.
Phase III (1978 – present)
Most research (except military research) was stopped during the Cultural Revolution (from 1966 to 1976). In 1978, China opened up and embarked on economic reforms. At the same time, the government placed great emphasis on the development of science and education. Although research facilities and funding have increased tremendously, the budget for scientific publications is still very limited compared to western standards.
Many new journals in the Chinese language have been launched in the last 20 years. On the other hand, progress in popular-science publishing is quite slow. This is because popular-science publications do not make good profit in the environment of a market economy.
Since most of the imported scientific books and journals are very expensive, the best way for foreign publishers to go in is by giving licences to reprint the journals.
Undoubtedly, , Japan is the most advanced in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of scientific research and scientific publishing.
Between 1920 and 1950, the Japanese imported a number of important scientific books in German and English from abroad, particularly in the fields of physics and mathematics. During the 1930’s, many important books were translated into Japanese, including some books on quantum mechanics. Those books had a strong influence on research in Japan. The fruit of the research was to produce two Nobel Laureates, Yukawa and Tomonaga, and many eminent world-class physicists such as Sakata, and Nambu, as well as many outstanding mathematicians.
Obviously, Japan is a very good market for scientific books and journals. In fact, it is one of the biggest markets in the world. At the same time, Japan itself produces quite a number of good scientific journals in English, such as the Journal of Applied Physics, Progress in Theoretical Physics, Earthquake Engineering etc. However, their scientific readership is still very much dependent on imported publications in English.”
(Chairman, World Scientific Publishing)
naugurated in 1998, the World Scientific Nobel Laureate Public Lecture series has attracted overwhelming response from the public each year. This year, we are honored to have Professor Martinus JG Veltman, co-winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics, to speak on the topic, “Everything Is Made of Elementary Particles”. The lecture was held on 12 April at the Singapore Marriott Hotel. The audience was also treated to a video screening of the highlights of the Nobel Prize award ceremony.
